PINs and passwords make way for biometrics on mobile

A new report by ABI Research into the biometric technologies market predicts that, by 2022, nearly all smartphones will feature fingerprint sensors and Juniper Research forecasts that the number of mobile payments authenticated by biometrics will rise significantly this year.

A recent survey by Gigya of 4,000 consumers from the US and UK found that more than half (52%) prefer alternative authentication methods to the workaday password. Most (80%) believe that biometric authentication is far more secure than traditional methods such as username and password combinations.

PIN numbers and passwords could be a thing of the past for unlocking a mobile device within five years, according to a new report from ABI Research. The latest biometric technologies marketing data report forecasts that fingerprint sensors in smartphones will reach a 95% penetration rate of shipments by 2022.

ABI Research suggests that the mainstream use of fingerprint recognition on mobile devices will spur on development of newer biometric technologies, including eye recognition, particularly for use in identification and payment applications within banking and governmental markets.